How to Get 40,000 Miles out of a 20,000 Mile Tire

[buck1234]

Hi all;

Don't run away. Excellent tire mileage is possible.

First let's agree that all tires are basically Balloons.

Too much air without enough weight and the center wears out first. Too Little air pressure and the edges wear down first. One side or the other or cupping and you have alignment problems or balance problems.


The naked eye method or Lincolns head on a penny really don't work that well.

So what do you do?

Tire Tread Depth Gauge

Costs under $5.00 and is available at most auto parts stores or online.

It measures the tread depth in the grooves of your tire in 1/32" units.

All tires on their stickers have the original tread depth in 1/32's when new. All you need to do is measure on a regular basis (about 20 seconds a tire) and you will know instantly if you have too much air (center wears faster) or too little air (edges wear faster). Side to side will show that alignment is off a bit.

Our tires are basicly car tires and behave like car tires. Many of us replace our OEM with standard car tires.

Fellow Spyder owners for less than its cost for a gourmet coffee you can stabilize you tire wear and get more miles per tire.

Oh, about my title. As a young man I worked in a tire shop. The owners son bet me I couldn't get better than 20,000 to 25,000 miles on a set of fiberglass belted tires since I lived way up on a mountain road. Short of it is, that by checking the tread depth weekly and adjusting the air pressure I actually got over 40,000 miles out of that set of tires and a free lunch by winning the bet.


Friends it really does work. To this day I still get a heck of a lot more miles out of my tires.


Buck1234 :2thumbs: :yes:

 

[Phil]

Huh! Who'da thunk!
Great info to this novice!!:clap:

 

[Yol Bolsun]

Tks. That will go a long way. ;-)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

 

[WackyDan]

Can you tell me how to get better mileage out of my burnouts?

 

[Firefly]

I've never been able to get over 8,000 miles from the rear and around 15,000 from the fronts--- which really isn't bad at all-- much like other bikes.

So I plan on a new set of fronts every year and 2 rears during the year.....

Running OEM tires---- 17 psi fronts and 26 rear.

 

[challman]

I've never been able to get over 8,000 miles from the rear and around 15,000 from the fronts--- which really isn't bad at all-- much like other bikes.

So I plan on a new set of fronts every year and 2 rears during the year.....

Running OEM tires---- 17 psi fronts and 26 rear.

Wow you are hard on tires.

 

[WackyDan]

Wow you are hard on tires.

No... I got 10.5 out of my rear OEM with a few rolling burnouts, and 12.5k out of my fronts ( though I could have gone a few K more). So Firefly is within average mileage.

* And I check the pressure before every ride.

Bottom line, while the advice on checking the tread depth is very good advice, that doesn't account for a couple of things.

- Change in riding load, single rider, two up, fully packed for a week on the road, or lightly loaded for running around town. I don't know about the rest of you, but my spyder is loaded differently and from one extreme to the other ride to ride.
- The Spyder's tendency to wear the inside halves of the front tires requiring rotation time to time.

So finding the right pressure to maintain even wear is somewhat of a science...and not a perfect science at best. - least on a spyder.

Our cars are generally always the same weight, and adding a passenger or a suitcase to the load doesn't have the same variable impact like it will on a bike... So our car tires are almost always wearing under the same conditions - to a degree. So I can see where checking tread depth across a car tire (on a car) would point to under or over inflation, or alignment issues very early on and help you get maximum wear.

Finally, if a tire is rated for 30k miles, it is rated for normal average use, and that is the average wear the manufacture designed and tested for. So it is perfectly conceivable that if you monitor your tire wear that closely and not drive like a maniac that you can stretch your wear quite a bit.

Unfortunately for me... I drive my spyder using the full 106 HP BRP gave me and coupled with my abuse of the nanny, I'd probably save more money on gas than tires by adjusting my riding behavior first. :roflblack:

 

[Firefly]

I do ride pretty hard-- but really don't do that many burnouts--- but if you ride the twisties pretty hard you will wear the tires down quicker.

Tire mileage ratings are total BS in my opinion. I can't tell you how many times I've had some 60,000 mile tires on a car wear out by the time I hit 30,000. I actually don't think I've ever hit the mileage they claim you can get from a tire....

I originally rotated my Spyder tires-- but heck since they're only $60 each -- I just swap them now instead of doing any rotation.

 

[buck1234]

Hi all;

Don't run away. Excellent tire mileage is possible.

First let's agree that all tires are basically Balloons.

Too much air without enough weight and the center wears out first. Too Little air pressure and the edges wear down first. One side or the other or cupping and you have alignment problems or balance problems.


The naked eye method or Lincolns head on a penny really don't work that well.

So what do you do?

Tire Tread Depth Gauge

Costs under $5.00 and is available at most auto parts stores or online.

It measures the tread depth in the grooves of your tire in 1/32" units.

All tires on their stickers have the original tread depth in 1/32's when new. All you need to do is measure on a regular basis (about 20 seconds a tire) and you will know instantly if you have too much air (center wears faster) or too little air (edges wear faster). Side to side will show that alignment is off a bit.

Our tires are basicly car tires and behave like car tires. Many of us replace our OEM with standard car tires.

Fellow Spyder owners for less than its cost for a gourmet coffee you can stabilize you tire wear and get more miles per tire.

Oh, about my title. As a young man I worked in a tire shop. The owners son bet me I couldn't get better than 20,000 to 25,000 miles on a set of fiberglass belted tires since I lived way up on a mountain road. Short of it is, that by checking the tread depth weekly and adjusting the air pressure I actually got over 40,000 miles out of that set of tires and a free lunch by winning the bet.


Friends it really does work. To this day I still get a heck of a lot more miles out of my tires.


Buck1234 :2thumbs: :yes:

There is one more Tire tidbit that addresses the variable loads on any given tire and is not voodoo just plain science.

It's called Static Roll Radius. Michelin had a huge mining tire contract. The fuel haulers were getting under 5 trips up the mountain and down again before wearing out their tires.

It was simple, going up the mountain under load 100 psi per tire was needed for the heavy load. Down the mountain they left the 100psi in, with no load. 5 trips and the tires were burned up.

Solution - measure from the middle of the axel to the ground when the tire is under load and let enough air out of the tires when empty to be the same measurement. Static Load Radius

 

[coz]

good info buck

don't you know that most people on this site already know everything? don't give up , some of us appreciate the information. thanks, coz:gaah::clap:hyea:

 

[Star Cruiser]

Good Advice Buck

Thanks for the advice buck. I replaced my rear tire after a little more than 43,000 km (about 27,000 miles). The fronts are still going pretty strong after over 60,000 km. I'll probably change them after I get back from the west coast. I have to say almost all of my riding is ONE UP. I really can't complain for the $180 cost of a tire that can last that long (or maybe even 40,ooo miles). My V-Star would get 15,ooo km on a good set and they cost more like $250 for the rear.....

 

[Bob Denman]

This is all good information... Thanks!

Wacky Dan... Do you want more mileage or more smoke out of your burnouts?? :roflblack:

 

[WackyDan]

This is all good information... Thanks!

Wacky Dan... Do you want more mileage or more smoke out of your burnouts?? :roflblack:

Little bleach and water will net you more smoke. hyea:

 

[WackyDan]

don't you know that most people on this site already know everything? don't give up , some of us appreciate the information. thanks, coz:gaah::clap:hyea:

Hey... I wasn't meaning to knock his info or attempt to inform us of what he has found to be best practices. Meant no offense to anyone. :chat::dontknow:

 

[Bootie]

Tires

I just replaced the two front tires on my 2010 RT. They had about 25,000 miles on them. There was still some tread left (maybe 1000 miles worth) but I am planning a 5000mi trip to Utah and I figured I should change them now. I had to change the rear tire at about 15000 mi. I am happy with tire-life.
I am on my 3rd set of rear brake pads. Front pads are still OK.